The present invention relates to a microfilm reader-printer which can carry out projection of a microfilm image on a screen and image formation on a carrier of a formed image.
In a microfilm reader-printer of the above kind, the operator has to determine between which ones, among a plurality of peripheral apparatuses that are connected to the body of the reader-printer, are to receive the transfer control of various kinds of signals to be executed, for starting a predetermined transfer of control by operating a selection switch, for example, of a selected object.
Further, there are some apparatuses which adopt a configuration that makes the manual setting possible for specifying the priority order of a plurality of peripheral devices that are connected to the body of the reader-printer. In the case of such a configuration, the operator has to determine how to get the priority order, and has to manually operate according to the judgment selected.
Consequently, in the case of using the prior-art apparatus, miscontrol was sometimes caused due to misjudgment or carelessness.
On the other hand, among microfilm reader-printers of this kind, there is proposed one whose body is constructed to be connectable to peripheral devices such as a page searcher. The page searcher may be set at a predetermined position of the reader-printer in such a way as to permit a continuous feeding or rewinding of a roll-like recording medium, namely, microfilm, one image frame at a time. Projection on the screen and image formation operation on the image formation carrier of a microfilm image is arranged to be achieved easily from the page searcher. In such a page searcher, setting of the number of pages to be printed continuously is also arranged to be achievable directly from the page searcher. However, in the prior-art page searcher, an image formation request signal which specifies the number of pages to be printed continuously is sent to the body of the reader-printer as a signal of a predetermined bit number. The image formation request signal from the page searcher requires signal lines for 4 bits for a page searcher which may be set to 9 pages of printing, and signal lines for 7 bits for a page searcher which may be set to 99 pages. Accordingly, it becomes necessary to provide an interface circuit for the page searcher and the reader-printer. On the other hand, if image formation execution is to be carried out by sheet, there was a problem that there is needed a very long time for the operation of a plurality of continuous image formations.
In addition, the number of continuously printable pages by the prior-art microfilm reader-printer does not necessarily coincide with the corresponding number that is required by the page searcher that is connected. For instance, when a page searcher which can request execution of 99 prints is connected to the body of a reader-printer that can designate continuous printings of up to 9 pages, and the page searcher requested a continuous printing of more than 9 pages, the reader-printer body is arranged to carry out continuous printings of more than 9 pages. Because of this, there was a problem that the temperature is raised beyond a rated value or the amount of the toner becomes insufficient, in the body of the reader-printer.